I really didn’t know what to expect when I ventured into Cardiff’s Barfly on the 19th February. I had heard stories from people who had been to rap gigs, and none of them were pretty. Because of this, I was extremely weary whilst I was walking down the stairs. Luckily my fears didn’t come true. The place looked rather empty with the ‘crowd’ (the term used loosely) being a lot older than expected and seemed more interested in the bar than the stage. However, over the next fifteen minutes the place began to fill up with a mixture of ages and styles; no-one seemed your stereotypical ‘rap’ fan.
The first act, Caskade, graced the stage to an overexcited audience who began to swamp the front of the stage. With a voice that reminded me of a mixture between Run DMC and the Beastie Boys over the top of very heavy beats, he seemed to warm the crowd up well. However, towards the end of his set, his songs were becoming very similar and the crowd began to find the bar a lot more interesting.
The second act, Dead Residents, had more of a rockier style about them. Instead of just using samples and beats as a base for their lyrics, they used instruments, with a live guitar on stage. Their style had a larger variety to it with them sounding very R’n’B one moment, and then a little bit death metal the next. This really seemed to please the crowd who seemed more engaged with them and looked like they were completely ready for the main act to grace the stage. Dead Residents had done their bit and warmed up the crowd and fair play to them.
After a short break, DJ Turkish got the crowd going with a remix of ‘Sway’ by Michael Bublé before Sway himself jumped on stage, much to the excitement of the crowd. After a quick burst of crowd participation, Sway leapt into a short acoustic version of ‘Up Your Speed’ before performing the full track, which sent the crowd crazy. After a small but gracious speech about everyone buying his album, allowing for the crowd to get their breathe back, he began a slow but beautiful reprisal of the lyrics from ‘Flo Fashion’, with the crowd knowing every word, before, launching into the song itself. This seemed to be the structure of the show. A small, a cappella version of the song or explanation of the lyrics, before performing the song; unique but the crowd seemed to love it.
His set was filled with some of his biggest hits like ‘Saturday Hustle’ Featuring Lemar, ‘Little Derek’ and ‘Silver and Gold’ featuring Akon, with the over excited crowd knowing every word. A short burst of Blur’s ‘Parklife’ in the middle of the set made the crowd go wild, much to the surprise of Sway himself, who seemed slightly taken aback by their excitement. His songs seemed to be very different from the typical format of a rap song, with the lack of guns and girls, being replaced by humorous but intelligent raps about his life. You can see why Akon signed him to his record label, Convict Music; the boy has talent.
Sway has definitely impressed tonight and by the looks of the hard core fans that descended on the Barfly, he has been for a long time and I can see him continuing his success into the future. It was exciting and dynamic from start to finish and the audience loved every moment.
[Taken from: http://www.bangingdrum.com/pages/review/details.php?review_id=34 ]
